Economy

Core sector growth contracted for the fourth straight month in November

Updated : December 31, 2019 06:05 PM IST

The output of refinery products and fertilisers increased by 3.1 percent and 13.6 percent respectively.

The production of coal, crude oil, natural gas, steel, and electricity contracted.

India’s core sector contracted for the fourth straight month in November even as the pace decelerated. The index of eight core sector industries fell 1.5 percent in November, according to official data released on Tuesday.

Five of the eight sectors witnessed negative growth. The eight core sectors had expanded by 3.3 percent in November 2018.

In the month under review, production of coal, crude oil, natural gas, steel, and electricity contracted. The growth rate of cement production dropped to 4.1 percent from 8.8 percent in November 2018.

The output of refinery products and fertilisers increased by 3.1 percent and 13.6 percent respectively in November 2019 over the year-ago month. During the April-November period, core industries recorded flat growth (zero percent) against 5.1 percent in the year-ago period.

It may be noted that since August, the eight core sectors are recording negative growth.